, 1887-05-28

> BiAAA1iPatJ LIOIn lNf
coast Of Africa. They are OF moderat.
~staydre, with dull but amiahle faces. This
man, however, was of immerse size, and be
possessed the features and expression of
n Congo desperate. In character also no diff
fered essentially from all the other slaves in
our country. BE was alike without their
amfabftty and their docility. and wns as
fearless as he was brutal. He was the only
negro ever knew who was without either
superstition or reverence. Indeed, he differed
so widely from the rest OF the slaves in that
section that there existed some feeling against
him almost akin TO a race feeling. AT the
same time that he exercised considerable in
luence over them they were dreadfully afraid
of him, and we're always in terror that he
would trick them, TO which awful power be
laid well known. claim lis curses In his
strange dialect used to terrifY them beyond
measure, and they would do anything 10 eoil-
cihate him. He had been a continual source
OF trouble, and an object OF suspicion in the
neiShborhood from the time of his first ap-
pearance; and more than one hrg that the
negroes declared had wandered into the
marshes Of No Haid Pawn, and had acut his
thote tes'- swinin' aroun' an aroun' In de
mn'sh, 7" Ind been suspected of finding its WY
totthis mans cabin His master had often
been urged 70 get ridof him, but he was kept,
] think, probably because he was valuable on
tho plantation. He was a fine butcher, 9
good work hand, and a first-class boatman.
~hlorHover, ours was a conservative popula-
ton, in which every man minded his own
business and let his ~neighbor's alone.
AT the time of the visits OF those secret
agents to which / have referred, this negro
was discovered to be the leader IN the secret
meetings held under their auspices, and he
would doubtless lave been taken up and ship
ped OF at once: but when tho intruders fled,
as i have relrtsd, their convert Disappeared
also, 1t was a subject of general felicitation
In the neighborhood that he was got rid of,
and his master, instead OF being commiser
ated on the loss of his slave, wis congratu-
lated that he had not cut his throat.
No Idea can be given Mt this date of the ex-
element occasioned In a quiet ~neighborhood
IN old times by the discovery OF the mere
presence OF such characters as Abolitionists
1t was rs il the foundations OF the whole social
fabric were undermined. 1t was the sudden
darkening of a shade that always hung In
the horizon. The slaves were in a large ma
jority, and bad they risen, though the final
issue could not be doubted, the lives of every
white on the plantations must have paid the
forfeit. Whatever the right and wrong of
slavery might have been, Its existence de-
manded that no outside interference with it
should be tolerated. So much WAS certain;
self preservation required this.
l was, at the time of which 1 speak, a well
grown lad, and had been for two sessions to
a boarding school, where / had got rid Of
some portion-I will not say Of ali-of the
superstition of my boyhood. The spirit OF
adventure WINS beginning to exert itself IN me,
and i had begun to feel a sense of enjoyment
in overcoming the fears which once mastered
me, though, I must confess, l had not en-
tirely shaken Off my belief In tue existence Of
ubov+a--tb.e L. 4 |Jtl .ot hnliora L., ,l.-u -
all in the daytime, but when night came I
was not so certain about 1t.
Duck hunting was my favorite sport, and
the marshes ON the river were emo ground for
them usually, but this season the weather had
been so singularly warm that the sport had
been poor, and though I had secured every
canal In the marsh, and every bend In the
river as far as No Haid Pawn hammock, as
the stretch of drifted timber and treacherous
marsh was called that marked tho boundary
line of that plantation, / had had bad luck.
Beyond that point l had never penetrated,
partly, no doubt, because of the training OF
my earlier years, and partly because the
marsh on either side of the hammock would
have mired a cat. Often, as / watched with
envious eye the wild duck rise up over the
dense trees that surrounded the place and cut
straight for the deserted marshes in the horse
shoe, l had had a longing to invade the mys-
FERROUS domain, and crawl to the edge of No
Haii Pawn and get a shot at the fowl that
hoated on its black surface; but something
had always deferred me, and the long
reaches of No Haid Pawn were left to
the wild fowl and the ghostly rowers
Finally, however, after a spell whose high
temperature was rather suited to August than
April, in desperation at my i'll luck l de-
termined to crafty my curiosity and try No
Haid Pawn. So one afternoon, without tell
ing any one Of my intention, 1 crossed the
mysterious boundary and struck through the
swamp for tho unknown land.
The marsh was far worse than l had an
ticipated, and no one but a duck hunter as
experienced and Jealous as myself, and as in
different to bitches, hriers, mire and all that
make a swamp, could have penetrated it at
all. Even 1 could never have got on if l
bad not ollowed the one path that led into
the marsh, the reputed "parf" of the evil
spirits, and, as 1t was, my progress was
both tedious aud dangerous.
The truck was q mysterious one, for
though / knew it had not been trodden by O
human foot in many years, yet there a verita-
Bile "parfh Il lay. In some places it was al
most completely lost, and I would fear l
should have to turn back, but an overhang-
ing branch or a vine swinging from one tree
to another would furnish a way to some spot
'AS'N go DSboh o6oahs Wv
spots old logs thrown across the miry canals
gave me nj uncomfortable feeling as / re-
fected what feet had last crossed on them.
On both sides OF this trail the marsh was
either an impenetrable jungle or a mire APP
parently bottomless,
l shall never forget my sensations as /
finally emerged from the woods into the clear
ing, II that desolate waste OF willows, cane
and swamp growth could be SO termed.
About me stretched the jungle, over which a
greenish lurid atmosphere brcoded, and
straight ahead lowered the gaunt mansion,
a rambling pile of somber white, with num-
berless vacant windows staring ut me from
the leafiess trees about 1t. Only one other
clump OF trees appeared above the canes and
brush, and that 1 knew by intuition was the
graveyard.
l think l should have turned back had not
shame impelled me forward.
My progress from this point was even more
difficult than it had been hitherto, for the
trail at the end of the wood termi-
mated abruptly in a gut OF the swamp;
however, l managed to keep ON by
walking on hammocks, pushing through
clumps OF bushes, and wading as best l could.
IL was slow and hot work, though.
1t never once struck me that it must be get
A. g. -